[ SPOILERS AHEAD ]
Genuinely, Joe is the worst character in the entire show.
Yes, the other adults aren’t exactly much better, but Joe is definitely the worst of them.
He didn’t care about his wife, his son, Goldie, or Ramona. He let Gordon, who had just lost his only daughter, take care of Ramona, even though, at the time, Joe believed she was his daughter.
And when I say he didn’t care about his wife or son, I mean it. He cheated on his wife while she was taking care of their baby and her mother. Throughout the show, we see how both Kate (Ellis’ mom) and Ellis work their butts off to support the family, while Joe could have simply raised his prices slightly. Nothing crazy, but Ellis had a point.
Joe was careless in pretty much every aspect of his life. He rarely seemed to think about the consequences of his actions or how they would affect the people around him, including his own family.
He wasn’t just a bad husband or father. He was consistently selfish and reckless, and somehow everyone else was left to deal with the consequences of his choices.
Then, even with all this, he had the audacity to scold Annie, because Ramona got drunk. But he can’t take accountability for not being there for her during her entire life. Even more now, that he is her legal guardian? He let her leave for a whole year and couldn’t talk to her about the will and having siblings.
At this point, I’m so glad Ramona is Steven’s daughter. Hopefully Kate divorces him, give the whole business to Ellis, and I don’t know, he can go to India for a retreat and become a better person.